Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
Five senators told Interior and USDA the $6 billion FY2026 fire suppression budget was nearly spent by Sept. 2, citing staffing gaps and firefighter deaths.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Gearhart responded to 69 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
237 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $401K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 48 | — | |
| 2022 | 72 | +50.0% | |
| 2023* | 24 | — | |
| 2024* | 24 | — | |
| 2025 | 69 | — |
* Well below Gearhart's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 3 building fires Gearhart departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 24 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 5 | 20.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 4 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 16.7% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Gearhart mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Sunlight | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 4.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gearhart sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,314 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 301 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 254 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 211 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 143 | 14.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 127 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 119 | 17.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 102 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 21.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 98 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Debris and open burning | 85 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 75 | 41.5 mi |
Top 9 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Gearhart. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.